This application relates in general to optical drives, and in specific to a method, system and apparatus for off-axis loading/unloading an optical disc in an optical drive.
Optical discs, such as compact discs (CDs) and digital versatile discs (DVDs), are widely used for storing data, such as textual data, audio data, and video data. Optical drives are available in the prior art for reading data from and/or writing data to such optical discs. Mechanisms for reading data from and/or writing data to optical discs are well known within the prior art. For example, a typical optical drive comprises a servo for spinning the optical disc, a mechanism for providing a laser (e.g., a semiconductor laser), a lens for focusing the laser onto the optical disc, an optosensor or photodetector that receives the reflected light from the disc, and a mechanism that converts the received reflected light to electrical signals. Prior art optical drives typically include a carrier component or receptacle, such as a xe2x80x9ctray,xe2x80x9d that operates to receive an optical disc and hold the disc in place while the disc is being transported or xe2x80x9cfedxe2x80x9d into the optical drive. For example, a personal computer (PC) can include a CD drive for reading CDs. Such CD drive will typically include a tray that extends from the drive to receive a CD, and then retracts back into the drive transporting such a received CD into the optical drive.
Optical drives have traditionally been positioned horizontally, such that an optical disc can lay flat on the optical drive""s tray. That is, optical drives have traditionally been oriented along the horizontal axis. However, some optical drives of the prior art are positioned vertically, such that an optical disc is received into the drive in an upright position. That is, some prior art optical drives are oriented along the vertical axis. Because the optical disc is placed into the tray of a vertical optical drive in an upright position, rather than laying flat on such a tray (as with horizontal drives), a mechanism is required in the prior art for holding the optical disc securely in the tray. That is, a mechanism is required for prior art vertical drives for holding the optical disc securely in the drive""s tray to prevent the optical disc from falling out of the tray. Typically, adjustable tabs have been utilized in the prior art to hold an optical disc in place in the tray. Such tabs generally extend from the edge of the tray over the optical disc to prevent the disc from falling out of the tray. Accordingly, prior art optical drives are typically either oriented along the horizontal axis, wherein an optical disc lays flat in the tray, or along the vertical axis, wherein tabs are required to maintain an optical disc in the tray.
Turning to FIG. 1, an example of a prior art optical drive""s tray 102 is illustrated. As shown, adjustable tabs 104 are included on tray 102 to hold optical disc 106 in tray 102 as the tray retracts into the optical drive. Typically, such tabs 104 can be manually adjusted radially by a user to extend over optical disc 106. That is, a prior art tray 102 will typically include radially adjustable tabs 104 that can each be manually extended by a user to hold a disc 106 in tray 102 when positioned vertically. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, tabs 1041 and 1042 have been radially extended over optical disc 106 and tabs 1043 and 1044 have not been so extended by a user.
Generally, both horizontally positioned drives and vertically positioned drives of the prior art include such adjustable tabs 104. Horizontally positioned drives typically include such tabs 104 to allow users the ability to place the drive in a vertical, rather than horizontal position. For example, an optical drive can be included in a PC such that the drive is positioned horizontally when the PC""s case is laying flat. However, the drive""s tray may include adjustable tabs 104 to allow a user to reposition the PC such that the optical drive is positioned vertically (e.g., stand the case on its side), wherein the adjustable tabs can be manually extended by a user to allow an optical drive""s tray 102 to hold an optical disc 106 in such a vertical position.
During operation, the optical drive typically lifts the optical disc off of the tray 102, such that the optical disc is clear of the tray""s surface. Moreover, the adjustable tabs 104 are typically positioned at a height 110 above the optical disc 106 such that the optical disc does not contact the tabs 104 when lifted off of tray 102 (i.e., during operation of the optical drive). Typically, height 110 is approximately 5 millimeters. Accordingly, during operation, the optical drive""s spindle lifts the optical disc 106 off of the tray 102, and the disc 106 spins beneath the adjustable tabs 104 without contacting such tabs 104. As a result, the overall height 108 of the tray 102 (which may also be thought of as the tray""s xe2x80x9cthicknessxe2x80x9d or the tray""s xe2x80x9cwidthxe2x80x9d when the tray is oriented vertically) is required to be larger than the height 110 necessary for operating with the tabs 104 extended.
Alternatively, prior art tabs 104 may be elevationally adjustable, such that the tabs 104 raise or rotate upward away from optical disc 106. For example, an optical drive may elevationally adjust the tabs 104 by causing the tabs 104 to rotate upward away from optical disc 106 during operation of the drive to allow for sufficient space for the optical disc 106 to spin beneath the tabs 104. Thus, the height 110 may be reduced until disc 106 is transported into the optical drive, and thereafter height 110 is effectively increased by the optical drive elevationally adjusting the tabs 104. In such case, sufficient space is required once tray 102 is inserted within the optical drive to allow the tabs 104 to rotate upward away from optical disc 106 in the manner described above. Accordingly, height 108 of tray 102 is effectively increased because the tabs 104 must elevationally adjust within the optical drive. A prior art tray 102 typically has a height 108 of approximately 15 millimeters or more.
For ease of explanation and consistency, the dimension 108 of an optical disc tray will be referred to herein as the tray""s xe2x80x9cheightxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cthicknessxe2x80x9d while the dimension 112 will be referred to herein as the tray""s xe2x80x9clengthxe2x80x9d and the dimension 114 will be referred to herein as the tray""s xe2x80x9cdepth.xe2x80x9d Thus, for ease of explanation and consistency herein, the term xe2x80x9cheightxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cthicknessxe2x80x9d will be used to refer to dimension 108, the term xe2x80x9clengthxe2x80x9d will be used to refer to dimension 112, and the term xe2x80x9cdepthxe2x80x9d will be used to refer to dimension 114 of an optical drive""s tray, regardless of whether such tray is oriented horizontally, vertically, or in any other manner.
Several problems exist with the above-described prior art. First, orienting an optical drive along the vertical axis has required a mechanism, such as tabs, to be implemented within the tray 102 to maintain an optical disc in the tray 102 in such vertical axis orientation. Utilizing adjustable tabs 104 requires that the overall height 108 of the tray 102 be larger than the height 110 necessary for operating with the tabs 104 extended. Accordingly, a low profile tray having a small overall height 108 is not available with prior art trays 102 having tabs 104. Additionally, tabs 104 are typically inconvenient for a user, and tabs 104 can damage an optical disc 106. Tabs 104 generally must be manually extended by a user. Accordingly, when operating an optical drive in a vertical position, a user is typically required to manually extend the tabs 104 to hold an optical disc 106 in tray 102 while the disc is fed to the optical drive.
Such adjustable tabs 104 require undesirable effort on the part of a user in loading and unloading an optical disc 106. A user can manually adjust the tabs 104 to load/unload a disc 106 in tray 102 such that the disc 106 does not encounter the tabs 104. For example, a user can place a disc 106 in tray 102 having tabs 104 retracted (i.e., not extended radially), and thereafter the user can manually extend the tabs 104 radially over disc 106. When the user desires to remove the disc 106, the user can manually retract the tabs 104 and then remove the disc 106 clear of the tabs 104. Manually adjusting the tabs 104 each time that a user loads/unloads a disc 106 is undesirable because it increases the amount of time and effort required in loading/unloading a disc 106. Additionally, adjusting (e.g., retracting/extending) the tabs 104 in this manner is cumbersome for a user because the user typically must hold the disc 106 in vertical tray 102 with one hand to prevent the disc 106 from falling out of the tray 102, while the user manually adjusts the tabs 104 with the user""s other hand. Furthermore, such manual adjustment by a user of tabs 104 increases the potential that a user will inadvertently break or damage the tabs, thus reducing the life of the product.
Alternatively, tabs 104 can be extended by a user, and a user can physically force a disc 106 past the extended tabs 104 in loading/unloading disc 106. Thus, rather than manually adjusting the tabs 104 each time that a user loads/unloads a disc 106 to/from tray 102, the user may leave the tabs 104 extended and physically force an optical disc past the tabs during such loading/unloading. However, contacting the tabs 104 with disc 106 in this manner can damage disc 106 and possibly result in disc 106 being unreadable by an optical drive. That is, forcing a disc 106 past the extended tabs can scratch the reflective surface of the optical disc, which may result in data loss from the disc. Also, such tabs 104 are an additional part that must be manufactured and implemented within such prior art trays 102. Accordingly, the overall cost for manufacturing and assembling such prior art trays 102 are higher than if such additional tabs 104 were not required.
In view of the above, there exists a desire for a method, apparatus and system for loading/unloading an optical disc in an optical drive. There exists a further desire for a method, apparatus, and system for loading/unloading an optical disc in substantially a vertical orientation (e.g. within approximately a 15 degree angle of vertical). There exists a further desire for a method, apparatus and system for loading/unloading an optical disc in an optical drive that allow for a low profile receptacle to be implemented within an optical drive. There exists still a further desire for a method, apparatus and system that allow a user to easily perform loading/unloading of an optical disc in an optical drive. There exists still a further desire for a method, apparatus and system that require no added effort on the part of a user in loading/unloading an optical disc in an optical drive. There exists a further desire for a method, apparatus and system for loading/unloading an optical disc in an optical drive that reduce the potential for damaging an optical disc during such loading/unloading.
These and other objects, features and technical advantages are achieved by a system, apparatus and method which utilize unique off-axis orientation of a means for receiving an optical disc to be transported to an optical drive, wherein such off-axis orientation maintains an optical disc within the receiving means during loading/unloading of the disc. In a preferred embodiment, the optical drive comprises a receptacle that is operable to transport an optical disc to the optical drive. Such receptacle comprises a cavity that receives the optical disc. In a preferred embodiment, such cavity is oriented at an angle xcex8 being an acute angle (i.e., less than 90xc2x0) from the vertical axis. In a more preferred embodiment, such angle xcex8 has a value selected from approximately 5 degrees to approximately 15 degrees from the vertical axis to maintain the optical disc within the cavity. In a most preferred embodiment, angle xcex8 is sufficient to prevent the optical disc from inadvertently falling out of the receptacle, while allowing the optical drive to be oriented substantially vertical (e.g., within approximately 15 degrees from vertical).
In a preferred embodiment the optical drive itself is oriented at angle xcex8 from the vertical axis. In an alternative embodiment, the optical drive can be oriented vertically, and the receptacle for transporting the optical disc to the optical drive is oriented at angle xcex8 from the vertical axis. In yet a further alternative embodiment, the receptacle can be oriented vertically, and the cavity that receives a disc within such receptacle is oriented at an angle xcex8 from the vertical axis. That is, in such an alternative embodiment, the base of the cavity slopes inward to the receptacle from a lower portion of the cavity toward an upper portion of the cavity at angle xcex8 from the vertical axis.
In a preferred embodiment, the optical drive is a stand-alone, external drive. For example, in a preferred embodiment, the optical drive is an external drive capable of interfacing with a larger system, such as a PC, laptop computer, mainframe computer, workstation computer, minicomputer, supercomputer, or other system capable of interfacing with an optical drive. However, in alternative embodiments, the optical drive is implemented as an internal drive within a computer system.
It should be appreciated that a technical advantage of a preferred embodiment of the present invention is that a system, method and apparatus for off-axis loading/unloading an optical disc in an optical drive are provided that allow easy loading/unloading of an optical disc with little effort on the part of a user and with little potential for damaging such optical disc. A further technical advantage of a preferred embodiment of the present invention is that a system, method and apparatus for off-axis loading/unloading an optical disc in an optical drive are provided wherein a user is not required to adjust any mechanisms, such as tabs, to maintain a disc in a transporting receptacle. Additionally, a fewer overall number of parts are required because separate mechanisms, such as tabs, for maintaining a disc in the transporting receptacle are eliminated.
The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of the present invention in order that the detailed description of the invention that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages of the invention will be described hereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the invention. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the conception and specific embodiment disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present invention. It should also be realized by those skilled in the art that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.